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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000028.txt from 1994/07
From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: C clarinet
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 22:23:19 -0400
A topic that has come on the board on several occasions in the past
had to do with which instrument a player used during performance.
More specifically the question arose, what is the obligation of
a clarinet player to perform on the instrument explicitly requested
by the composer? (And to this I add, what is the obligation of
the conductor to insist upon it?)
One view is that it really does not matter. The player is or should
be at liberty to use that which is convenient to him or her. Thus
we use A clarinet in the place of B-flat because the key may be
more amenable to A clarinet use or the B-flat passage requires a note
that might havepitch problems or is otherwise exposed, and vice versa.
The matter of the C clarinet is swiftly disposed of since so few players
have them. The passages are immediately transposed with little thought
given to the impact of the change of the character of sound.
On the other hand, there is a view that the composer knew exactly
the timbre of what he or she was requesting and that it is the player's
obligation to respect that wish. Thus, for example, Stravinsky's
unaccompanied pieces, which call for a change of clarinet - and for
an unaccompanied piece that is an important clue, were once heard by
Stravinsky himself who later chewed out the player who performed them
with a statement such as "I wrote for A clarinet for a purpose! Who
are you to change what I wrote?"
There are grey areas too: the Bizet symphony in C is for clarinet in
C (as well as horns in C, trumpets in C, etc.) because the 17 year
old Bizet had not yet learned how to deal with transposing instruments.
This question extends to the issue of the Till Eulenspiegel solo on
E-flat clarinet even though it is for D clarinet. And in the Mahler
5 which I did a few months ago, there are several extended sections
for D clarinet which I played on E-flat.
And moving on the bass clarinet in A vs B-flat to something really
esoteric: basset horn in G and clarinet in B-natural. It gets
sticky. It gets confused.
The easiest position to take is that there are practical problems involved
in buying all those clarinets and what difference does it make in any
case? Perhaps that is a valid position. I am not at all sure I
agree with it, but it certainly is the majority view.
But if a composer with an ear as good as Strauss or Mozart or Schubert
(in the Octet, for example) or Beethoven wrote for clarinet in C,
what is our obligation to them as responsible instrumentalists? Are
we at liberty to do what is easiest and most convenient for us and to
hell with the composer's request? Can we do that with tempi? Can we
do that with articulation? Can we do that with phrasing?
Let me give you an extreme case which asks the question who is the tail
and who is the dog (pardon the analogy): in a new completion of the
Mozart Requiem, the completer requested a change from basset horns to
A clarinetsfor one movement. The musicians simply ignored it and said,
"We don't want to bring the extra instruments for a single movement." The
conductor ignored the issue. The completer of the Requiem felt that that
decision was not one for the players to make. It was a composer's
prerogotive to state what instrument he or she wants and it is the player's
responsibility to play that which is requested. The example is extreme to
be sure, but what really is the difference?
Just how far does our authority as players extend? Would anyone object if
I did the Mozart quintet on a B-flat clarinet? Would anyone object if I
did it on a bass clarinet in A? How about a tenor sax? Whose authority
is absolute?
Just last week Noreen indicated that she was going to do the Gran Partitta
with flutes instead of oboes, English horns instead of basset horns, and
I teased her for this. But isn't this the same issue?
Exactly what can we do with impunity? How far may we go and still be
within the bounds of responsible performance ethics? Who are the
servants and who are the masters?
Dan Leeson
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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
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